Main Dealer Service Costs ?

[TJS]

I have asked 3 BMW dealers to quote for a 4 year / 48km service, basically a modern day "Inspection 2" but without the cam belt (done 2 years ago). I was surprised by the responses.

1. £900 plus VAT but including parts of £70 and fluids £90.

2. Car is too old for main dealer service, none of our technicians have any experience of the Z1, suggest you try "X" dealership.

3. Service receptionist, " No sir, you mean a Z3, no such thing as a Z1" She was about 18 so probably a twinkle in her fathers eye when the Z1 was launched. She had a nice rack though.

Munich Legends have been recommended but its a 250 mile round trip. They also refused to quote a fixed price but did indicate at least 7 hours labour plus parts.

I was under the impression it would be a simple mechanical E30 based service.

[andyhallas]

For info...

I get my Z serviced by a chap in South London who my father has known for over 25 years. He services at least 2 Z1's (mine and a friend of his who has owned it since new) and the guy himself has owned many an E30 amongst other bimmers.

My service last year (including timing belt change) cost £442.96

The year before was £152.13 (Inspection 2 equivalent with new fan clutch & spark plugs).

Whilst I would factor in that he has probably given me a bit of a mates rate it puts dealer prices into perspective!

To be honest though, the price is a secondary consideration. Personally I wouldn't trust anyone other than this guy with my car. I know he'll take care of it and he always does a brilliant job using the best spares. He doesn't wash and valet it though!!

I would definately suggest finding an independant BMW specialist that you get a good feeling from (a lone trader or a couple of guys running out of a small garage are normally good). From memory of this forum reports of Munich Legends have been mixed.

Does anyone else on the forum have any favoured independants for servicing and the like?

[F.Brossaud]

My God, "£900 plus VAT"
Other answers are a shame from BMW Dealer If you have few spare time, you could send a letter to Mobile Tradition in Munich and wait for their answer, just for fun...

As long as you do not have trouble with door mechanism or clutch replacement, you can have your Z1 serviced to anyone who deal with E30.

Try to get in touch with a BMWClub in your area, they should be able to suggest you a good shop.

[Racing Tortoise]

I use Munich Legends, even though it takes commitment to drive down to Sussex for a service, because I bought the car from them and they've known the car for a long time. Plus I always enjoy poking around their stock.

The last service was a normal annual service and cost about 270 quid but that included new brake discs/pads and fixing a couple of minor problems.

[muppet]

Being a scot I do not know where Soulbury is but ask local lads here

http://www.bavarian-board.co.uk/default.asp

[tenroom]

From memory of this forum reports of Munich Legends have been mixed.

Does anyone else on the forum have any favoured independants for servicing and the like?

I used to use Munich Legends . . . until, first, they insulted my intelligence by claiming that all Z1 bootlids leak after I complained about getting my car back with at bootful of dirty water and secondly, gave me my car back with the driver's side internal door pull in pieces and a maladjusted door that developed scratches within two days . . . THEN fobbed me off for the best part of 3 months with promises to book the car back in for them to rectify the problem. In the end, I demanded money to get the door adjusted and resprayed at MY convenience.

Barney's a nice enough bloke but the firm has a zero customer care ethic. Take your Z1 there at your peril . . .

I've heard glowing reports about J & D Repairs in High Wycombe and I;m letting them loose on suspension wishbone bushes, suspension and other bits . . .

Read the testimonials here http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/garages_seng.html
and scroll down to "J and D Vehicles"

[TJS]

I have finally given up on the franchised dealer service route, its just too much hassle (and money). I contacted another main dealer advertising E30 6 cylinder inspection 2 services for £410 inclusive for BMW Car Club members only to be told a Z1 is not an E30. All the contact with main dealers has resulted in conversations with female service receptionists who were either clueless, rude or in one case both.

A review of independent BMW specialists revealed PCS in nearby Milton Keynes (www.pcs-mk.co.uk) who knew exactly what the car was and quoted £299 all inclusive for an Inspection 2 service without the need to feed the VIN number into a computer or call back.

The website highlighted by tenroom gives PCS a 5 star rating and, not surprisingly, zero marks to 3 of the main dealers referred in the original post.

Quick questions ... I can find no mention in any Z1 service schedules of checking and or replacing the distributor cap or the distributor rotor arm. Is this necessary?

The brake pedal has initial movement before the brakes bite, maybe fresh fluid and a bled system will cure this but I am tempted to replace the original rubber lines to the calipers with braided stainless steel items. Anyone undertaken this upgrade ?

[tenroom]

Z1 doesn't have a distributor

[Racing Tortoise]

I got a royal reception at Lind BMW in Ipswich earlier this year when I popped by in the Z1 to try a Z4 Coupe. But delighted as they were to see a Z1, they did politely suggest, when I enquired, that I might get a more knowledgeable servicing experience from a specialist garage that regularly dealt with Z1s.

Yes, it must be said that Munich Legends do certainly come across as terminally laid back - a bunch of guys playing cars rather than a business. But I've not been given cause for complaint by the service they've given me thus far.

[felix]

Z1 doesn't have a distributor

Are you sure about that? The E30 325 certainly does.

[tenroom]

Asked my mechanic and he said no . . . just repeating his answer. I can't say I've ever seen one under the bonnet . . .

[TJS]

The BMW Repair Manual and Specifications for the BMW Z1 (4/91) certainly refers to the distributor which appears to be buried under the fan.

"Replacing Distributor Cap. M20; Unscrew water pipe on the engine block. Pull off shielded plug. Unscrew fan - left hand threads! Use special tools 1115 030 /040. Unscrew and push up fan cowl"

Real OEM also list the parts. Cap @ $113.37 and rotor arm @ $30.13.

My experience of older cars tends to suggest that the distributor cap and rotor arm does deteriorate over time and with high mileage so I was surprised there is no reference in any BMW service information I can locate regarding inspection or replacement

[sfh3l]

Guys,
Picked up on this one a bit late, but there is indeed a distributor on the 325/Z1. It is at the top of the timing case cover. The rotor arm and contacts do deteriorate over time, but it seems much better than old cars used to be. I would say just to keep an eye on it and look for undue corrosion or burning of the contacts.
On the subject of service, I have used PCS in Milton Keynes. I run an E30 M3 as a daily driver, and had 5 or 6 services from them over the space of a couple of years. On the mechanical side I cannot fault them. They sorted a number of tiresome problems on the M3, one of which I wasn't even aware of. However, where they let me down was on the service side of things - like insisting on "valeting" my car, despite a specific request not to. The valet took the form of cleaning the outside of my (black) car, with what must have been only a cup-full of waterand a brillo pad. This was in March, when the car had a healthy coating of salty grime all over it. Suffice to say that all my efforts with the Zymol were ruined and I had to spend more than a weekend with a full-on orbital polisher to get the paint back to how it should be.
Furthermore on that occasion I had taken the car in for an Insp II asking specifically for the rear exhaust hanger to be repaired. Basically, the mounting on the boot floor had dropped off, and needed welding back on properly. My £1,200 exhaust was in peril, and needed support urgently. I collected the car from them at the end of the day to pay my £600 or so, and be told that they'd been kind enough to replace the battery for me, as they found it to be no good. I drove home, and found the exhaust still knocking at the rear of the car. I looked underneath and it simply hadn't been done.
I phoned them the next day to be told that the guy who did it "hadn't had time" to do the one thing that I'd specifically asked for them to do!
He'd had time to scratch the car all over, and to mess about with the battery, a job I could have done myself, but neglected the one thing I wanted done.
I no longer use them as a result.

I tend to do all the Z1 stuff myself. I did the timing belt this winter, and apart from the doors it is all fairly simple stuff. The thing I'm paranoid about is scratches, inside and out. The guys at garage I take the car to for the MOT think I'm a bit of an old woman, but I watch them getting in with their big boots and dirty boiler suits and cringe! The trouble is with all that lovely leather and nubuk, once it is scrathed or stained, it is really very difficult indeed to sort it out. The tops of the doors are very vulnerable when Z1 virgins get in and out.